“Whistleblowers should not have to fear retaliation for speaking up, and they should not have to wait a decade for relief,” he said during a Senate Judiciary Hearing on Wednesday. “And, they should not have to rely on Congress to see justice done.”

GAO’s report released last week found that the Department of Justice took two to more than 10 years to resolve four complaints and failed to give complainants estimates for when to expect a decision.

Besides the report, Grassley said FBI appears to be stonewalling the Inspector General—including in two investigations of FBI whistleblower complaints ­– by failing to provide timely access to records.

“The DOJ program for protecting agency whistleblowers is broken,” said Stephen Kohn, executive director of the National Whistleblowers Center.